Fuel economy of vehicles sold in
the U.S. last year had the sharpest gains in almost four decades, as foreign
automakers Honda Motor Co. Ltd., Volkswagen AG and Mazda Motor
Corp. had the most efficient fleets, Bloomberg reported. An annual
report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) showed that new
cars and trucks had a 16 percent gain in fuel efficiency in the past five
years, to 23.8 miles per gallon. Preliminary data shows an average increase of
1.4 mpg in 2012 from the previous year, which in part was attributed to the
drop in Japanese vehicle production after the March 2011 tsunami, the EPA said.
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